Vessel operated by El Faro owner leaves Jacksonville port as Hurricane Matthew approaches

A vessel operated by the owner of the cargo ship El Faro reportedly left Jacksonville for Puerto Rico on Tuesday despite the approach of Hurricane Matthew.

Two tracking services, including the one on the Jacksonville Port Authority website, showed the Perla Del Caribe departing Jacksonville late Tuesday afternoon.

The ships of Tote Maritime Puerto Rico, the Isla Bella and the Perla Del Caribe, are continuing to move cargo on the route between Jacksonville and San Juan – the same route on which the El Faro sank near the Bahamas on Oct. 1, 2015, during Hurricane Joaquin. All 33 people on board were killed.

“Our Captains have control and authority to alter course for any purpose, weather, crew illness, or to assist another ship at sea,” according to a statement from Tote in response to several questions. “Our crews are trained to deal with unfolding weather situations and are prepared to respond to emerging situations while at sea. … Tote Services has great confidence in its highly experienced officers and they are currently adjusting their sailing schedules accordingly.”

The statement did not address questions about whether the company was taking any additional precautions, such as additional securing of cargo; about the number of people working on those vessels; whether the ships should be docked to ensure safety; and whether Tote was tracking the storm and the ships.

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A lawyer for a firm representing the families of four El Faro crew members criticized Tote for continuing to operate, particularly less than a week after the first anniversary of that tragedy.

“When families come to us for justice, it often means they want to make sure the tragedy that took their loved one doesn’t happen to someone else,” said Jason Itkin of the Houston-based firm Arnold & Itkin LLP. “If Tote is sending more mariners into the path of a hurricane on the anniversary of the El Faro disaster, it’s clear Tote has not learned its lesson yet.”

The Perla Del Caribe is scheduled to arrive in San Juan Friday, according to the sailing schedule on Tote Maritime’s website. The Isla Bella was scheduled to leave San Juan Tuesday and arrive in Jacksonville on Thursday before leaving again on Friday. Hurricane Matthew is forecast to impact Northeast Florida Thursday, Friday and possibly part of Saturday. Along with Hurricane Matthew moving north, Tropical Storm Nicole has formed in the Atlantic northeast of Puerto Rico.

“In the matter of Tote’s ships sailing ahead of Hurricane Matthew, the Coast Guard issued three port advisories for various Florida ports stating that all ocean-going commercial vessels and ocean-going barges greater than 500 gross tons should make plans to depart the port,” according to the statement from Tote.

So far, the Coast Guard has issued advisories for ports farther south, including Miami and Port Canaveral, although those warnings have moved north ahead of the storm’s movement.

Related: Weather-related cancellation in Jacksonville, elsewhere

Much of the Caribbean and the eastern coast of the United States, including the Florida coast, are closely watching Hurricane Matthew, a Category 4 storm considered “extremely dangerous,” according to the National Hurricane Center. Matthew had sustained winds Tuesday of more than 140 mph with even more powerful gusts as the storm hit Haiti and continued north.

Gov. Rick Scott has declared a state of emergency for all Florida counties.

“Hurricane Matthew is a life-threatening category four hurricane and we must all take it seriously,” Scott said. “If Hurricane Matthew directly impacts Florida, there could be massive destruction which we haven’t seen since Hurricane Andrew devastated Miami-Dade County in 1992.”

Tote officials said earlier this year during a Coast Guard hearing on the El Faro sinking that they were not tracking the El Faro or Hurricane Joaquin a year ago.

Top officials with the National Hurricane Center also testified about the notably inaccurate forecasts for Joaquin — wrong in both direction and strength. The early models were off in direction, sometimes by more than 500 nautical miles, according to the testimony.

“It’s certainly a large error,” said James Franklin, head of the Hurricane Specialist Unit for the National Hurricane Center, of the Joaquin forecast.

The Isla Bella and the Perla Del Caribe are relatively new ships, both launched in 2015. The Isla Bella was the world’s first container ship powered by liquefied natural gas, according to Tote.

The maritime tracking sites include vesselfinder.com and marinetraffic.com.

Sebastian Kitchen: (904) 359-4161